At a first glance, in-memory databases (like H2 or Fongo) look like a good idea. You can test your code without having to worry about installing and managing a dedicated database server up front. Just start your tests and the H2 database will be up and running. However, this comfort comes with severe drawbacks. In this post, I explain my reservations and point out Docker as an alternative which can be easily used with TestContainers or within the Gradle/Maven build.